How to Cut Up a Whole Chicken
♦ Lay the bird on the cutting
board, belly side up, and move the legs around so you see how it is put
together.
♦ Find a very sharp knife and
start by cutting the chicken down the middle (through the bone) from the tail
end to the neck end.
♦ Next open the chicken like a
book and cut along the side of the backbone from one end to the other. Now you
have two halves of the chicken on your cutting board.
♦ Cut off the drumstick—find the
place where it connects to the body and cut it with the pointed end of your
knife.
♦ You can take the wing off the
same way.
♦ The last thing to cut is the
breast off the thigh. Cut the two sections apart along the thigh joint, and
with an extra little whack, cut the backbone in half.
♦ Do the same thing to the other
half of the chicken and you should now have two drumsticks, two wings, two
breasts, and two thighs.
♦ Rinse the pieces off with cold
tap water and either cook them or store them in the freezer.
Note: If you are going to freeze the pieces, wrap them in
clear plastic wrap and then again in foil, or a freezer bag, and write the name
of the item and date on the outside.